


No place to stay

by NaraMerald



Category: Original Work
Genre: Inspired by Real Events, Real Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-03
Updated: 2014-08-03
Packaged: 2018-02-11 14:36:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2071953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaraMerald/pseuds/NaraMerald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just an effort to deal with my own personal feelings. It is very much an unpolished, random outpouring of emotion. </p><p>Not long ago, the Australian Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison revoked the right to community detention for two underaged minors. Underaged boys were taken without warning to Inverbrackie Detention Centre, woken at 3am and flown separately to Darwin with 4 big, adult, male Serco guards each. They have had no contact with friends. They committed no crime. </p><p>This is my interpretation of these true events. Please, if you see this, read up on it, and if you can, promote awareness at the shocking treatment of some of Australia's most vulnerable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No place to stay

**Author's Note:**

> I refer separately to the local community and the public. Some of these words/quotes are paraphrased, but many do not belong to me. I comment as an individual only. 
> 
> The words "Run away, run away... no place to stay, run away..." come from the Chorus of a song written and performed by Neo Pitso and Kyle Rigney for this incident. 
> 
> http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/students-fight-for-detained-asylumseeker-mates-taken-from-woodville-high-school/story-fni6uo1m-1226987520650

**No place to stay**  
  
“ _We have an emergency.”  
“I’m filing a critical incident report.”   
“They were taken...” _  
“ _Two underaged minors were removed from the community and placed in detention…”_  
  
 **July, 2014**  
The email came unobtrusively to all staff. The school principal sent out so much material it hardly received a second glance, until the contents were revealed. Two students gone, taken.   
_Blink_.   
  
My student, gone, taken.   
_Blink_.   
  
**Pre-July, 2014**  
Being born in an era of peace and wealth led to a sort of naïve superiority that in hindsight, had to shatter sooner or later. It began with the election of an extreme, conservative government that seemed to value nothing but destruction of community, destruction of the poor ‘class’ and promotion of big business and big business alone.   
  
There was a twinge of unease, when “Immigration Minister” became “Immigration and Border Protection Minister”. The unease sparked with the expanded cruelty of the offshore processing programs for asylum seekers.    
The spark became a bushfire and spread through community services, scorching away. Legal services, burnt. Medical services, burnt. Humanitarian aid, burnt. Communication services, burnt.   
  
All the while, the public stood still, unaware that the flames were licking at their skin.  They were far more interested in watching others burn.   
  
**July, 2004**  
The mood was a curious combination of somber, disbelieving and bewildered. Two well behaved boys, model citizens, punished for the crime of asking for help.   
“But… this can’t be legal, can it?”  
“They can’t lock up students who’ve done nothing wrong, can they?”   
  
At first, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the boys would be brought back into our fold. After all, they were only children. The local community slept.  
  
 **July, 2014**  
The details came to light, in murky, dribbling spurts that chilled the listener.   
_No warning.  
Didn’t understand why they were being taken.   
Immigration officials and police._  
 _Transported at 3am.  
Locked up.   
4 adult Serco guards each.   
Two separate flights to another state.  
  
They must have been so frightened…_  
  
  
 **July, 2014**  
One could have thought that after seeing the government and the law of Australia effectively morally trashed, naivety would be the last thing to be felt. The naivety ended up being another kick while down.    
  
In the preparation for the social media storm, the details were hashed out, careful, due to the precarious legality of being paid by state government but criticizing Federal government.  But to stand up for what was right, stepping up to that line and taking a chance was needed, even if the first step was only Facebook.   
  
187 friends.  Not even 20 shares. Surely a mistake…   
  
Share again.   
  
Mothers talking about their concern for their children; blithely ignoring children that weren’t their own; weren’t like theirs.   
  
Adults talking about their dogs’ welfare, unconcerned with the welfare of two students.   
  
Close friends who either disagreed or simply didn’t care.   
  
Naivety, shattered.   
  
**July, 2014  
** “Miss… I’m scared for him, you know?” The student admits quietly, looking for reassurance. There is little to give.  
“I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I’m… I’m really frightened…”   
  
**July, 2014**  
“We need to understand there are students still at risk in our community. They are being called in for interviews, without legal representation or an adult to support them. Some of them are detained as a result of that interview. These students are terrified that they will be next…”   
The community stirred.  
  
 **July, 2014**  
The protest is a general one, but it is heartening to see students and staff turn out for the boys. Unable to get into contact except to send faxed school work, the community is strained. How exactly can students, young adults, be asked to trust in the law, the government, democracy, but see their friends practically kidnapped?   
They cry.   
They cry and they take up the cry. Tears in their eyes, they reach to their peers and their elders. And the local community finally opens an eye, and shifts into a conscious state.   
  
**July, 2014**  
The school receives legal advice and steps back to support the community to act. The community steps up tremendously, led by the power of the righteous youth- students and staff supporting in a personal role exempt from the rules of the institution.  There are the interviews- radio, television, newspaper. The petitions, the social media groups, the hashtag...  
  
178 personal Facebook friends, and this time, even less reply. The pain of betrayal from the government is only compounded by the pain of betrayal of friends. Online connections are apparently fickle things.   
  
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of  _ **evil**_  is for good men to do nothing." – Edmund Burke  
  
 _Would they still be this uncaring if it were me?_  
  
The protest builds, but the days pass and the boys are like a whisper… out of reach.   
  
**July, 2014**  
Around the country children flee. They disappear, overnight, in the days that follow, fearing the cruel apathy of the Australian government, fueled by the cruel apathy of the Australian people.   
  
“Refugee advocate groups are giving new instructions to the children at risk. They are to run into the toilet and barricade it with their feet. They then make a call to their contact to tell them what is happening, so someone knows if they disappear. They finish the call before they go and see the immigration officials…”  
  
 **July, 2014  
** “I heard about what happened. Are you okay?”   
“Thanks... just... thanks for caring.”   
  
**July, 2014  
** “I can’t believe the government returned Tamils to Sri Lanka…”   
  
Refoulement is evidently a concept that the Australian government does not know and does not care to know.   
The legal challenges to the government mount, but the public stay largely apathetic. Resistance builds, but the public stare, hypnotised by the flames of “someone else”, unaware that their own clothing is flammable.  
  
Experts compare these actions to “…returning Jewish people to the Nazis…”.   
And still the public watch.  
  
  
 **July, 2014**  
Re: Emergency Meeting  
  
We are sad to announce the boys have disappeared. We do not know where they are. They have run away.   
_They must have been so desperately scared._   
  
**August, 2014**  
The protest is happening for all the ~~right~~ wrong reasons. It is democracy at its strongest; but it doesn’t feel like that. The students, never more involved in politics than now, turn up to support their community. It is a moment of intense, painful pride that brings tears to the eyes of more than one.   
  
“They have done nothing wrong!” A student shouts into the microphone.   
“We just want them back…” A student pleads.   
“It is disgusting!” A politician backs.   
“SHAME!” the crowd boos.  
“We fight for each other!” The rapper roars.  
  
The haunting lyrics of the song outlast the moments at the protest, where students, teachers and the community alike simultaneously try to picture the missing students, and avoid picturing the missing students. The lump in the back of throats make it difficult to talk, the eyes suspiciously wet and shiny as placards are waved and the suitcase of dreams is thumped along to the beat. The community is awake.  
“ _Run away, run away… no place to stay, run away…”_   
  
But on social media, the 178 do not respond. Do not share.  The public ignore the smoke.   
  
**August, 2014**  
  
 _I hope they’re okay._   
  
  



End file.
